Archive for September, 2011

All professional photographers should strive to increase their capabilities. One of the ways is to embrace video. A lot of wedding photographers have done this as this gives them more ways of generating capital. Being versatile is very important. But there are costs for doing this. Let’s talk about video and where it figures in.

In the film days, a professional photographer could buy 2¼” medium-format cameras to do weddings and portraits, or a 4″X5″ (or bigger) large format camera to photograph architecture and products. This was a huge barrier to entry to amateurs, with the huge cost and learning how to work with what were mostly manual systems. Unless an amateur or student was particularly well-heeled, he couldn’t purchase this equipment. He would have to work with the less expensive smaller format 35mm cameras, that were also more expensive when moving up to the high end. A budding pro would have to work his way up, sometimes working as an assistant for an established pro.

In the past, architectural clients wouldn’t hire someone who couldn’t give them large-format transparencies or negatives. It shut out a good many photographers. It was a barrier to entry.

Then digital still photography became the norm and the cameras evolved into something very capable of producing a very large and sharp print. And the price started dropping. The barrier to entry was being lowered. And digital had another perk. Editing software came into its own. The one with the highest regard is Adobe Photoshop. It is not cheap for the current version. But there are some lower-cost alternatives that don’t do as much. A barrier just fell again. More amateurs call themselves pros. Now, the competition is very heavy. It is hard for the clients to tell who can do the work or not. The Internet is awash with images. Some may steal an image and say it is theirs. Others shoot all the standard stuff photographers take as a hobby. Flowers, landscapes, people, boats, cars, etc.

A commercial photographer does more with the images he creates. You wouldn’t hire someone to shoot your company’s expensive product to show it in its best light, if the photographer only showed you a portfolio of beautiful sunsets, would you?

You would want to know that the photographer could get great detail and sharp, clear, well-lit images of products as seen in his/her portfolio.

Since we already have extensive experience at commercial photography, we add video to the mix to increase our versatility and do more for our clients.

Video is a whole different animal than still photography. You have all the things that a still photographer has to think about, plus movement and sound to deal with. And editing videos is more complicated than it has ever been as there are more tools to work with. While a lot of video cameras will do a great job of recording what is in front of them with just the press of a button, editing them is way more than trimming a clip and placing it on the end of another clip. And, everyone watches TV. If you want to see what is possible, look at the intro to CSI Miami. It is a mixture of stills, video clips, and moving graphics. It probably took months to put together and it is over in less than a minute. HD video files are huge. A one-minute HD video in QuickTime format is around a gigabyte in size. You need a computer with some real horsepower to harness the expensive software that it takes to get something really professional. Rendering time can run many hours. Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop Extended, and a legion of other programs come into play. And the learning curve is steep. High costs, a lot to learn . . . Now, there is a barrier to entry.

If you haven’t already, take a look at our video at the top of this post. As you can see, it adds a dynamic dimension to our professional commercial portfolio. It is a great way to show off our portfolio and for a client company to promote itself, as well.